


A Sign Of The Times

by oscarwilderobbieross



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Harry Styles songs, Iron Man 2, M/M, Rhodey is tired, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 03:47:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10608657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oscarwilderobbieross/pseuds/oscarwilderobbieross
Summary: Tony is self destructing, and Rhodey finds it too hard to deal with.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The new Harry Styles song fucked me up dudes

Tony and Rhodey both knew a line had been crossed once they used actual life threatening beams on each other.

 

Tony was working on his self destruction, and James couldn’t get himself to stop him anymore. Tony had passed him, and left him behind in the dust. Speeding off in his fast cars to do things that were never clear to James.

 

He’d gotten used to being behind Tony a little while ago (not very far behind him, they both went to MIT, thank you very much), but it had never made him feel stupid and disrespected. Something changed along the way, and Tony wasn’t telling him what that change was.

 

Confronting him hadn’t worked, and only resulted in the other man shutting down ever further, and telling him even less, contacting him less. Getting turned away at the door had been a turning point for James, but he hadn’t let it fully develop until that faithful night at a party that should have never been thrown.

 

Their relationship had been natural, before all of this. As Tony returned from Afghanistan, he sought solace. James was able to bring that, knowing the man inside and out, and having the mind of a military man helped a lot. He knew the signs of a traumatized man, and Tony Stark was deeply conflicted.

 

 He became Iron Man, to protect, to cope, to change. James could deal with that, reasonably. He came home safely, with nothing more than a few scrapes most of the time. But soon after the plans of the Stark Expo were in development, something changed in Tony.

 

 He stayed at work, James assumed it was stress, and he let him. Reminded him to eat and drink, sleep. Sometimes he managed, but not quite. Tony started drinking disgusting green sludge, rambling about some sort of diet he wanted to follow.

 

 James didn’t believe him for a second, but hammering him only resulted in screaming matches, and they’d leave each other alone after that.

 

 After that came the Russian idiot, targeting Tony at a racetrack in Monaco. That’s when he truly spiraled, and it became to much for Natasha, Pepper and eventually.. James.

 

 He’d tried until the final second, tried to keep him for firing that beam, and he hadn’t succeeded.

 

 So he distanced himself.

 

 He wasn’t Tony’s babysitter, and he wouldn’t be reduced to that.


End file.
